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IAUC 5935: 1986 III; 1994a

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                                                  Circular No. 5935
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Postal Address: Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Telephone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)
TWX 710-320-6842 ASTROGRAM CAM     EASYLINK 62794505
MARSDEN@CFA or GREEN@CFA (.SPAN, .BITNET or .HARVARD.EDU)


PERIODIC COMET HALLEY (1986 III)
     The following positions have been derived from observations
made by O. Hainaut (in a joint program with R. M. West, B. G. Marsden
and K. J. Meech) with the 3.5-m New Technology Telescope at the
European Southern Observatory.  Nine 25-min exposures in succession
with the SuSI CCD camera and V filter, tracked at the motion of the comet,
on Jan. 11 show an image at V = 26.5 +/- 0.2 in all frames (combining to
a 7-sigma signal); seeing was 0".6-0".9 and the sky surface brightness
V = 21.9 mag arcsec**-2.  The positions, from three trios of images, show
that the comet's motion is well within 5 percent of what was expected,
whereas a main-belt minor planet in the relevant part of the sky would
be expected to move thrice as fast (and a Trojan twice as fast).  At
a heliocentric distance of 18.8 AU, the comet seems to be the faintest
ever recorded.  These observations confirm the probable presence
of an unmeasurable 2-sigma image near the limit of seven 10-min and four 15-min
exposures on 1992 Apr. 6 (cf. IAUC 5535), when the seeing was 1".2 and
the sky background V = 20.8 mag arcsec**-2.

     1994 UT             R.A. (2000) Decl.
     Jan. 11.19243    9 15 03.68   - 3 21 59.7
          11.25655    9 15 02.92   - 3 21 57.8
          11.32237    9 15 02.09   - 3 21 56.2


PERIODIC COMET KUSHIDA (1994a)
     Orbital elements from MPC 23105:

     T = 1993 Dec. 12.8428 TT         Peri. = 214.4507
     e = 0.639349                     Node  = 245.9597  2000.0
     q = 1.367357 AU                  Incl. =   4.1863
       a =  3.791356 AU    n = 0.1335095    P =   7.382 years

1994 TT     R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r    Elong. Phase      m1
Feb. 27     9 41.73    + 2 38.9    0.647    1.623  164.5    9.4     12.2
Mar.  9     9 41.93    + 3 30.2    0.726    1.684  156.3   13.7     12.6
     19     9 44.75    + 4 13.0    0.824    1.748  147.6   17.7     13.0
     29     9 50.13    + 4 41.5    0.937    1.815  139.3   21.0     13.4
Apr.  8     9 57.69    + 4 53.9    1.066    1.884  131.4   23.5     13.9
     18    10 07.03    + 4 50.4    1.208    1.955  124.0   25.2     14.3
     28    10 17.75    + 4 32.1    1.362    2.027  116.9   26.3     14.7
May   8    10 29.48    + 4 01.1    1.525    2.100  110.2   26.8     15.1


1994 February 18               (5935)              Brian G. Marsden

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